| The FIA has announced the first company to achieve ISO 9001 quality accreditation and BAFE certification |
The company provides fire extinguisher supply, service and maintenance throughout the Western Isles from its base in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.
Mark, who had successfully achieved registration under the BAFE ST104 Portable Fire Extinguisher Service Technicians Scheme in his previous job, knew the importance of ensuring quality through third party certification. He decided at the outset that he wanted his company to be ISO and BAFE registered, and to be an FIA member; so he approached the FIA to see what he needed to do.
As part of the FIA's commitment to raising standards in fire safety, all FIA members have to be registered to BS EN ISO 9001 (or equivalent). In addition, those involved in the design, installation, commissioning, handover and/or maintenance of fire alarm, detection and extinguishing systems must hold the relevant modules of BAFE SP 203 or equivalent (LPS 1014, LPS 1204), while those companies engaged in the contract maintenance of portable fire extinguishers must obtain approval under the BAFE SP101/ST104 scheme.
Martin Duggan, FIA General Manager, comments: "It was a difficult decision for us when we introduced this qualifying criteria because of the implications in terms of losing members and potential members. However, as an association we are fully committed to third party certification as a means of demonstrating competence in fire safety so it was a step that we knew we had to take. In doing so we did recognise that we had a responsibility to help existing members and those that wanted to join us who did not already have the schemes in place so we introduced our Route to Certification initiative."